1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator and ice making device and more particularly, to a refrigerator and ice making device including oscillators on the ice tray and a method thereof that is used produce and release clear ice.
2. Related Art
In the related art, ice making devices may use an ice tray which is constantly pivoting slightly to keep the water moving. To make the ice cubes, metal pins reach into the water and are cooled down below freezing wherein water freezes to the pins. When enough water is frozen, the pins with the frozen ice move out of the water tray and over a collection tray. The pins are then heated to release the ice cubes where the ice cubes drop into a collection tray. The remaining water gets pumped out of the ice maker wherein new water is supplied and the process starts again.
In the related art, however, costs associated with mechanical complexity and the energy used to pump the remaining water out of the ice maker are incurred, and an additional drain line is also required to remove the excess water from the ice maker.
Other known methods of producing and releasing ice cubes include using metal trays wherein when the ice cubes are formed, the ice cubes are heated slightly and the ice cubes are mechanically raked out of the ice trays or the ice trays are pivoted to release the ice into the collection tray. However, as above, heating the ice cubes requires energy and reduces an ice production rate due to the produced heat that is required to be removed from the ice maker prior to producing a new batch of ice cubes.
In addition to metal trays, ice cubes may be produced using twist trays wherein a flexible ice tray is twisted to release the ice cubes into a collection tray. However, flexible ice trays typically made from a plastic material are not as good of heat conductors as the metal trays, making it more difficult to freeze the water and accordingly, slowing ice cube production down. In addition, the plastic may become brittle over time and break.
The present invention introduces a refrigerator and ice maker having one or more oscillators on the ice tray to produce clear ice and also to release the clear ice into the collection tray.